IN THE HONEY-BEE. 85 



zation of the eggs of Bees, so as to be exposed to no delusions 

 or errors subsequently in seeking for the spermatozoids. It was 

 only after I had exactly ascertained the structure of the egg- 

 envelopes, the micropylar apparatus and the yelk, and practised 

 myself in the preparation of the eggs of Bees, that I turned my 

 attention to the spermatozoids, by whose presence or absence 

 the principal decision was to be given. Above all, the most 

 exact acquaintance was required with the individual ridges of 

 the lattice-work of the egg-shell, which is composed of irregular 

 hexagons, as well as with the folds of the vitelline membrane 

 accidentally produced during examination, so as not to confound 

 these things with spermatozoids which had become motionless. 

 After I had, in this way, made myself sufficiently familiar with 

 the examination of the eggs of Bees, I had a comb brought to 

 me at 10 o'clock in the morning of the 22nd of August, contain- 

 ing female eggs, which had been deposited at the utmost an hour 

 before. I might expect beforehand that no trace of spermato- 

 zoids would be recognizable externally in these eggs ; I there- 

 fore directed all my attention to their contents, and hoped to 

 discover the spermatozoids which had already penetrated through 

 the micropyle, in the interior of the eggs. I soon convinced 

 myself that there was no possibility of discovering the delicate 

 seminal filaments between the granulo-vesicular yelk-masses ; the 

 linear object to be sought for was too subtile to be capable of 

 discovery with certainty amongst the many mutually-crossing 

 outlines of the yelk-vesicles. After various vain endeavours to 

 render the interior of the Bee's egg accessible to the inquiring 

 eye, I came at last to the idea of employing an artifice, which I 

 had soon acquired by practice, and which allowed me to survey 

 at least a portion of the inner space of the Bee's eggs with great 

 clearness and tranquillity. I crushed a Bee's egg quite gently 

 with a very thin glass -plate, and so that it was ruptured at its 

 lower pole, opposite to the micropylar apparatus, and the yelk 

 gradually flowed out at this spot, by which a clear empty space 

 was produced at the upper pole within the micropylar apparatus, 

 between the egg- envelopes and the yelk which was retiring 

 downwards. I directed my attention very particularly to this 

 empty space, which I saw slowly produced under the microscope 

 during the effusion of the yelk. The production of such a pre- 



